How to Write an Article Review in Details

First, let’s understand what kind of work you are about to write. An article review is a very common task for the students because of an exploratory format – by doing this type of work you can show your writing skills as well as your ability to evaluate and analyze certain publications. A review demonstrates your understanding of an article and its topic, reveals your thoughts about it. 

As usual, students have an assignment to write a review on the article written by some expert or professional. It is not easy because you should deeply understand the main ideas and problems of the publication. But by following certain steps you can write a decent review without facing any difficulties. Let’s start at the very beginning. 

What Exactly Is an Article Review?

It’s a piece of writing where you should summarize and analyze information from a certain article. Your review may contain criticism and cannot do without your opinion. It’s pretty important to write your seeing and personal thoughts on the topic to show your involvement in it. As a conclusion, you need to evaluate the usefulness of the article, the relevance of its ideas and its contribution to the development of the problem you are working on. 

You do not have to do your own research, it will be enough to thoroughly understand the ideas presented by the author of the article, summarize them correctly and concisely and give your opinion, that must be well-reasoned. the text of the article is used as the basis for the review, so the main ideas of an article and your opinion on them should take a balanced amount of space in your review.

Before You Start Writing

Do not jump into conclusions as soon as you have read the paper only once. Since you are doing analytical work you should deeply estimate your topic before you start giving opinions. Follow some steps to get it done in the right way.

Read the Article Mindfully

It’s quite important to go through the article mindfully before beginning the review part. Identify the most important statements in the article. Find the positive points and the ones you don’t agree with. Also, highlight conflicting and controversial thoughts you would like to discuss and even disprove. Make a conclusion whether the author of the article coped with the tasks that he set for himself.

Research the Topic

After a decent reading of the article, you can do a small research of other materials on your topic. Find out if the position of the author is common or maybe it contradicts all other theories on this topic. Bring up all your knowledge and experience related to the theme.

Estimate the Article

Now it’s time to estimate the article – think about the advantages and disadvantages of it. the strengths of the publication may include new information and clear analysis. On the other hand, unverified facts, outdated information or unconfirmed claims can be considered as weaknesses. Feel free to look through examples and links mentioned by an author, they also may contain some tricky moments or questionable facts. Time to write it down.

Try your best to make an interesting title to your review, it may reflect the main idea of it. As well you should mention the title of the article that is being reviewed and the name of its author. Although it is not necessary to write a title at the very beginning, you can come up with it after you finish your review.

Then It Comes To Introduction.

It should contain the topic of publication, main points, and subtopics. You can specify the structure of your article and give your opinion about that structure. Does it contain all the important elements? Is it readable and easy to understand? Highlight the main problems you want to discuss any questions you are about to answer.

When You Are Done With the Proper Introduction You Are Ready To Get To the Main Part – the Body of the Review.

It contains the actual analysis of the article. This is the largest part of the review, so break it into several subtopics. At this point, it’s going to be easier to read. You can use the structure of the original publication as a reference for the structure of the review discussing each subtopic one by one. Summarize the information provided in the article, but try not to use direct quotes. Retell the author’s statements in your own words, shorten them, leave only the main ideas.

The Next Step Is a Critical Part of the Body.

Write your opinion about every subtopic you find important. Your opinion should be reasonable and contain strong arguments. This is not just a criticism of what you do not like, it is a research paper that should be interesting to read and should bring new ideas and your own conclusions.

Assess the contribution of the article to the relevant field of knowledge. Make some research to see if the data used in the article is up-to-date and relevant. Pay attention to the importance of the main problem of the publication. Is it common and frequently discussed problem and solving of it or maybe the author came up with a new seeing of things no one thought about before? 

The Conclusion

The conclusion is a short and capacious part of the review, which should occupy about 10% of the text. Summarize everything that was written above. Give your short and clear assessment of the main points. Write about the impact and importance of the article and answer questions that you have brought up in your introduction. 

After finishing your review make sure it does not contain any useless information or too much citation. Also, try your best to make your conclusion clear and understandable in order to show your deep involvement in the topic. the conclusion may not contain rewritten information from the body – only summarizing and straight inference. 

Now you are done! Check your review for mistakes and false information, make sure you made your assessment nice and clear. 

Some extra tips for you to know:

Check Out Terms

Before getting into writing check out the meanings of all the terms you find questionable. If the article is written by an expert or some professor, it may contain terms that are used only in a professional environment. Find their definitions for yourself and you can also mention their meanings in the review, so your readers can easily understand the topic and don’t have to google the definitions themselves.

Make a Plan

This tip works for every piece of writing. When you have a plan, you are more likely to mention all the points you need and not to forget anything important. Mention all the questions that should be answered in your review. It guarantees you a good structure of your article and enhances the readability of it. 

Read Some Examples of the Article Reviews 

It is always easier to understand something when you have a proper example. Search for some decent reviews written by professionals read them mindfully and use them as a pattern for your work. You actually can combine this tip with the previous one – use a structure of the professional review as an example to make your plan.

Don’t Forget About the Formal Style of Writing

An article review is not a letter to your friend or online comment. It should be written with a proper tone of voice in accordance with an academic writing style. Make sure you are using appropriate vocabulary and following all the rules and recommendations of formal academic writing. 

Now when you know all the main steps of writing an article review and also have useful tips you can complete your task in the best possible way.